Round the Twist: Series 1, Episode 1, Skeleton on the Dunny
When the Twists move from the city to live in an old lighthouse, they
discover that the outside ‘dunny’ is haunted. One stormy night they
decide to have a showdown with a very flushed ghost.
Clip: The ghost
When Linda wants to use the outside ‘dunny’ (toilet), Bronson offers to
accompany her. He fears that she will need to be protected from the
ghost (old Ned). Linda objects because she doesn’t believe in
ghosts… until she sees, and then she believes.
Curriculum links:
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
Year 9 Content Descriptions
ACELA1522 – Investigate how evaluation can be expressed directly and
indirectly using devices, for example, allusion, evocative vocabulary and
metaphor
ACELA1553 – Understand that authors innovate with text structures and
language for specific purposes and effects
ACELA1557 – Explain how authors experiment with the structures of
sentences and clauses to create particular effects
ACELA1561 – Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity,
abstraction and stylistic effectiveness
ACELY1745 – Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual
choices that authors make to present information, opinions and perspectives
in different texts
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
Useful resources:
Australian Children’s Television Foundation – The Learning Centre
Round the Twist online resources:
http://www.actf.com.au/teaching_resources?srch=&Yearlevel=&Curriculum_Study_Ar
eas=&Themes=&show=11&Search=Search
The Australian Children’s Television website contains other specially selected Round
the Twist clips, images and related resources that are available free of charge.
Round the Twist website
http://www.roundthetwist.com/home_noflash.htm
The Round the Twist website includes information about the cast, links to further
episodes, teaching and learning suggestions and some interesting information about
shooting the series.
Visual Literacy – K-8
http://k-8visual.info/
This site provides a definition of visual literacy and a host of examples. It also has some
ideas about assessing students’ visual literacy capabilities.
Teaching Tips: Reading comprehension strategies
http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1777
This website harvests and brings together reading comprehension strategies suitable
for primary/middle years classes.
Analysis of moving image
http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/downloads/filmanalysis.pdf
Steve Campbell provides a very detailed two page glossary of terms for film analysis.
Teaching Dictogloss
http://www.carla.umn.edu/cobaltt/modules/strategies/Dictogloss.pdf
This url leads to a three page document explaining the dictogloss procedure.
Dictoglosses were first developed for use as a language immersion strategy in foreign
language education, but they also have their uses in mainstream education for
introducing students to new vocabulary and language structures. This document has
been prepared by Diane Tedick.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
ACELA1553 – Understand that authors innovate with text structures and language for specific purposes and
effects
ACELA1557 – Explain how authors experiment with the structures of sentences and clauses to create
particular effects
ACELY1745 – Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to
present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Teaching activity A: Pre-viewing and viewing activity
Activating background knowledge – Scary stories:
Resources:
 10cm x 10cm pieces of coloured paper, cut into a speech bubble shape
(one per student)
 A5 size note-taking slip (two per student)
 Bell
 Camera
 Display board
Think-pair-share:
1. Individual thinking: Have students seated on the floor in one large circle.
One student faces into the circle and the next student faces out of the circle.
Keep alternating so half the students are facing in and half the students are
facing out. The purpose is to give the students some separation for individual
thinking. Ask a student to distribute the note-taking paper (one per student).
Invite students to think of a time when they’ve seen a scary film, cartoon or
music video clip. Tell students to write down the features/characteristics of a
good scary film, scary cartoon or scary music video. After 3-4 minutes of
individual thinking and writing, ring the bell to stop the activity.
2. Pair’s discussion: Still seated in one large circle, ask students to turn so
they are seated back to back with one other student whilst also facing one
other student. This is the set up for a pair’s discussion. Have students discuss
their ideas with the partner they are facing. After 6-8 minutes of pair’s
discussion, ring the bell to halt the activity.
3. Sharing with the class: Still seated in one large circle, all students face into
the circle. Teacher asks individual students to contribute to the class
discussion. Teacher scribes each student’s contributions onto a separate
speech bubble slip. For example, ‘A good scary cartoon uses spooky music to
build the tension.’ Only call for contributions from half of the students.
4. Individual thinking: Ask students to return to their individual thinking position
(large circle with half the students facing in and half the students facing out).
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
5. Ask a student to distribute another sheet of note-taking paper (one per
student). Invite students to think of a time when they’ve read a scary story.
Ask students to write down the features/characteristics of a good scary story.
After 3-4 minutes of individual thinking and writing, ring the bell to halt the
activity.
6. Pair’s discussion: Still seated in one large circle, have students turn so they
are seated back to back with one other student whilst also facing one other
student. This is the set up for a pair’s discussion. Pairs of students discuss
the features of a good scary story. After 6-8 minutes of pair’s discussion, ring
the bell to halt the activity.
7. Sharing with the class: Still seated in one large circle, ask students to face
into the circle. Elect individual students to contribute to the class discussion.
Write down each student’s contributions onto separate speech bubble slips.
This time, call for contributions from students who didn’t make contributions in
the earlier part of the lesson. For example, ‘A good scary story has to have a
lot of description about the monster so you can build a picture in your mind’.
By the end of this part of the lesson, each student should have a scribed
speech bubble slip about the features/characteristics of a good scary story
(either moving image or written).
8. Ask students to stand up, find a partner and find a space to stand together.
Tell students to number off as ‘person 1’ and ‘person 2’. Person 1 becomes a
lump of clay; they simply stand as a lump of clay until person 2 (the sculptor)
sculpts them. Tell ‘person 2’ that they don’t physically touch their lump of clay;
‘person 2’ gives instructions to shape their lump of clay into the scariest
statue possible. Once ‘person 2’ is satisfied with their efforts, they take a
photo of their creation. Encourage students to explore different viewing
positions to capture the desired effect.
9. Repeat activity so ‘person 2’ becomes the lump of clay and person 1 is the
sculptor and photographer.
10. Display the photos and speech bubbles on a display board and have
members of the class evaluate the photos and character positions.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
ACELY1745 – Explore and explain the combinations of language and visual choices that authors make to
present information, opinions and perspectives in different texts
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Teaching activity B: Responding activity
Reading the visual image:
Resources:
 Clip: The ghost (Round the Twist, Ep. 1 – Skeleton in the Dunny)
 Student activity sheet 40.1: Extract from the post-production script
Sequence timeline (from Teaching activity B)
 30 slips of note paper (10cm x 5cm) for student writing (one per student)
 Glue
 Audio voice recorder (found on ipods, ipads, mobile phones etc)
1.
Have students sit in one large circle and unroll the sequence timeline from Teaching
activity B. Ask students to take turns in reminding the class what part of the plot their
image represents.
2.
This activity focuses on the design of each frame from the sequence. Initiate a
discussion with the students about the five media design elements and the choices a
filmmaker makes when producing a filmed scene. Notate on the board student
responses as a point of reference for the next part of the lesson:
a. Shot size (e.g. close up, medium, long distance)
b. Camera angle (e.g. bottom-up view as dominant; top-down view as weak)
c. Character position (e.g. facing each other or facing away)
d. Facial expressions (e.g. angry, happy, deep in thought)
e. Body gestures (e.g. pointing, using fist, relaxed)
3.
Discuss how the five media design elements of the filmmaker offers a system of
evaluation about the relationships between characters. The five media design elements
are also used to persuade the viewer to adopt particular responses and feelings toward
the characters. The point is that five media design elements are not neutral.
4.
Distribute the slips of note paper (one per student) and ask students to deconstruct their
image as per the five media design elements and write the details on their slip of paper.
Students can refer to the notes on the board. For example, ‘This is a close up shot of
the Dunny door. The camera angle is level which makes it seem like it’s someone else
doing the viewing. We don’t see any characters, so we’re still wondering who’s doing
the viewing.’
5.
Ask students to explain to the rest of the class what they have written and why they did
so. The other members of the class should evaluate what each has chosen for their
sequence frame. As they conclude their sharing, ask students to glue their notes under
the sequence timeline. Give this row the title Media design elements.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
Adding the audio/music/sounds effects:
6.
Distribute Student activity sheet 40.1: Extract of the post production script
(one between two), for the episode, Skeleton on the Dunny. Allow time for students
to read the extract. If students are not familiar with the coded script conventions,
discuss. Ask students how this version compared with their work in the previous
activity.
7.
Invite three student volunteers to take on the voice roles for Linda, Bronson and
Nell. Audio record students speaking the dialogue. Play this recording back to the
class.
8.
As a class, view the clip, The ghost, as an audio only. Ask students to compare the
students’ audio version with the actual version. Draw the conclusion that the actual
version has many audio, music and sound effects that provide another mode of
communication.
9.
Draw the students’ attention to the final column of Student activity sheet 40.1:
Extract of the post production script labelled audio, music and sound effects.
Ask the students to recall what effects were added, where and what effect did they
achieve. Have students write their responses in the final column if using the paper
version or add their comments to the last column on the interactive white board.
10.
As a class, view the clip, The ghost, again, this time with visual and audio. Have
students compare the use of audio, music and sound effects with their listings.
Discuss the similarities and points of difference and highlight the importance of
audio design for building tension, creating mood and adding to a character’s profile.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
ACELA1553 – Understand that authors innovate with text structures and language for specific purposes and
effects
ACELA1557 – Explain how authors experiment with the structures of sentences and clauses to create
particular effects
ACELA1561 – Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Teaching activity C: Exploring activity
Dictogloss for building vocabulary and sentence structure:
Resources:


Clip: The ghost (Round the Twist, Ep. 1 – Skeleton in the Dunny)
Student activity sheet 40.2: Scary story (one copy for the teacher)
1.
Write the words ‘MONSTER UNDER THE BED’ in the centre of the board/IWB and ask
students to predict words or events that the title suggests to them. Write these predictions
on the board as a semantic web. A semantic web is a web that is able to describe things
in a meaningful way.
2.
Distribute Student activity sheet 40.2: Scary story, and read it together uninterrupted
so students can build narrative comprehension skills. Have students jot down any words
they’d like to discuss. At the end of the reading, ask students to offer up words for
discussion. Writes these on the board so students can see their written form and discuss
the meaning of each. Return to the predictions on the board. Identify the predictions that
were confirmed by the reading of the story.
3.
Ask students to complete the first stage of a dictogloss after reading Student activity
sheet 40.2: Scary story remind them to remember as much detail as possible. The
purpose of a dictogloss is to focus the students on aspects of vocabulary and sentence
structure that they might otherwise over look. After the reading, have students take a
blank sheet of paper and write out as much of the story as they can remember. Ask the
students to use the same words and sentence structure if they can. Allow students time to
write down as many ideas as they can.
4.
Present another reading of the same story. This time, have students form into groups of
two and together they try to reconstruct the story as best as they can. Repeat the
sequence with a final oral reading and a shared reconstruction (with the same partner).
5.
When students have written as much as they can, bring all the students to a large circle
on the floor. Ask pairs to volunteer to read their reconstructions. Compare vocabulary and
sentence structure and consider ‘what has been left out’ and ‘what has been added’.
6.
Allow each pair of students to sit with the original story (Student activity sheet 40.2:
Scary story) and their reconstruction, and edit for any missing elements.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
ACELA1553 – understand that authors innovate with text structures and language for specific purposes and
effects
ACELA1557 – Explain how authors experiment with the structures of sentences and clauses to create
particular effects
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Teaching activity D: Applying activity
Exploring written language compression:
Resources:
 Final dictogloss from Teaching activity D.
 Student activity sheet 40.2: Scary story (one copy between two or on laptop
between two)
 If using paper copy, one blue and one red pen per student pair
1. Ask the students to read over their final dictogloss from Teaching activity D. Have
them identify the most complex and the simplest part of the dictogloss. List the
students’ suggestions on the board/IWB, encouraging them to use the metalanguage
of text structure and language features. For example, ‘I found it hard to remember the
long noun groups. I found it easy to remember the stages: physical description of
Bronson, Bronson’s visions, mention of the cleaning roster, description of outside the
lighthouse, description inside the lighthouse, Bronson waking up.’ Discuss. Validate
students’ contributions by listing them on the board/IWB.
2. Ask the students to describe Boseley’s writing style. What makes it so effective? What
makes it so efficient? Rather than repeat a word or a grammatical structure, Boseley
tends to avoid the repetition. Whilst this strategy reduces repetition, it introduces a
reading comprehension challenge. He forces the reader to ‘fill in the gap’; readers
have to make links forwards and backwards to think about the deletion. An example is
‘A living mass of grime and filth. Watching. Waiting. Biding its time.’ As a class,
discuss what these sentences would be if they were written in full. In grammatical
terms, what is missing? It is often the subject of the clause.
3. Boseley, however, has to provide some cohesive links for the reader so ideas can be
‘hooked’ together. In the example above, the more general word ‘it’ refers back to the
more specific entity of ‘a living mass of grime and filth’ which links further back to the
eerie ‘something’ Boseley is describing.
4. Divide the class into pairs. Each pair re-reads Student activity sheet 40.2: Scary
story and identifies other carefully placed deletions and cohesions. Mark deletions in
red and cohesions in blue. Review the students’ findings. The purpose is for students
to articulate their metacognitive strategies for reading comprehension.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
5. Divide the class into four groups to discuss the following two target questions:
a. Which text has the most aesthetic value?
b. Which text has the most social value?
6. Each group nominates one student as the ‘Discussion director’ and another as a
‘Summariser’. The discussion director does not participate in the discussion but guides
the discussion to keep it on track and ask probing questions to encourage students to
elaborate. The focus is not on right or wrong but on the strength of evidence brought
to the discussion. The summariser takes notes to compose a summary of the
discussion in the whole class feedback session.
7. Regroup the class for the summariser to present their notes to the whole class. Points
of difference across the groups should be discussed. Again, the focus is not on right or
wrong but on the strength of evidence brought to the discussion.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
This is an extract from the Australian Curriculum V3.0: English
ACELA1522 – Investigate how evaluation can be expressed directly and indirectly using devices, for example,
allusion, evocative vocabulary and metaphor
ACELA1561 – Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness
© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2012
Teaching activity E: Applying activity
Comprehending evocative vocabulary and metaphors:
Resources:
 Clip: The ghost (Round the Twist, Ep. 1 – Skeleton in the Dunny)
 Student activity sheet 40.3: Evocative vocabulary (one copy between two –
from previous lesson)
1.
As a class, view the clip, The ghost, and initiate a discussion with the class about
evocative vocabulary.
Evocative vocabulary refers to descriptive language that is designed to evoke particular
images and responses from a reader. Because language is socially and culturally
constructed, different readers will engage with the imagery and emotions in the text in
disparate ways. The focus of this activity is to bring students’ metacognitive strategies to
consciousness even though there may be some movement in individual interpretation.
Students’ alternative interpretations should, however, be discuss and valued as points
of difference. An example of the evocative vocabulary in the text is - ‘Bronson’s pillow
was a soggy lump, his blankets a clinging mass around his feet as he thrashed in his
sleep.’ The reader forms a particular image of Bronson laying in a dishevelled state.
The reader is drawn to identify with Bronson’s physical and mental state; feelings of
discomfort arise as the image is in contrast to the function of sleep – to rest.
2.
Divide the class into pairs and have each of the pairs work through Student activity
sheet 40.3: Evocative vocabulary and identify other examples of evocative vocabulary
and its possible effect on a reader. Review the students’ findings and mark up a copy of
the student activity sheet with the students’ findings. This not only validates students’
contributions, it also gives the visual learners another point of re-enforcement.
3.
As a class, discuss ‘metaphors’. A metaphor is a figure of speech where one object is
meant to mean something other than its literal definition. A simile is like a metaphor, but
uses ‘like’ or ‘as’ to make the comparison. Because language is socially and culturally
constructed, different readers will engage with metaphors in disparate ways. The focus
of this activity is to bring students’ metacognitive strategies to consciousness even
though there may be some movement in individual interpretation. Students’ alternative
interpretations should, however, be discuss and valued as points of difference.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
An example of a metaphor in the text: a ‘lull in the storm’ is figuratively described ‘as if
the universe was catching its breath for a moment...’
4.
Still in pairs, have students work through Student activity sheet 40.3: Evocative
vocabulary and identify other examples of metaphors and its possible effect on a
reader. Review and discuss students’ findings. Mark the student responses on a markup copy of the Student activity sheet on an IWB. This not only validates students’
contributions, it also gives the visual learners another point of re-enforcement.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.
Reading a Media item
Who constructed it
and why?
Ownership
Production/
intention
Technique
Genre/form
process
SENDER
MESSAGE
What is it about?
MEDIUM
PROGRAM
CONTENT
FORM
RECEIVER
Subject
Images/sounds
Ideas/values
Audience
Literacy/
critical values
How did they put it
together? For
example, Production
roles.
Audience
Who are they?
How do they
respond?
1. All media messages are constructions
2. Each person interprets messages differently
3. Media have commercial interests
4. Media has values
5. Each medium has its own language and style
Media uses recognised codes and conventions in order for the audience to identify with what is being
portrayed. By the term 'code' we mean a communication system which contains media design elements
which have an agreed meaning and which can be combined according to agreed rules.
There are four inter-related dimensions of media literacy:




the cognitive - understanding how the message was produced and the symbols it uses
emotional - understanding the cues that are used to trigger emotional responses in the audience
aesthetic - understanding and appreciating the craft of the creators of the media
moral - the ability to infer the values underlying the messages
The stages of media literacy range from recognising the most superficial meanings in what you
experience (facial expressions, sound, colour), to taking social responsibility and making active choices
and change in your life because of the impact such action can make (such as not watching or playing
violent shows or games).
Each person’s level of media literacy depends upon many factors:
age, level of cognition, the social domain of the viewer, the culture of the viewer and media skills and
knowledge. Like verbal and written literacy skills, media literacy cannot be studied in isolation from the
meanings which readers produce.
There are three categories of codes that may be used to convey meanings in media messages:
1. technical codes, which include camera techniques, framing, depth of field, lighting and exposure
and juxtaposition; the sound track including dialogue, natural location sound, music and sound
effects. For example, bright, lively music signifies a comedy or upbeat scene in a drama or
romance.
2.
symbolic codes, are embedded in the text and create associations in the viewer’s mind for
example, objects, setting, body language, clothing, colour, text and stereotypes. For example, the
colour of a hat worn by characters in a western can instantly signal to us their status; white hat
‘goodie’, black hat ‘baddie’.
3.
written/verbal codes in the form of headlines, captions, speech bubbles and language style.
Conventions enforce meaning in media. They can be defined as an accepted way of doing things. For
example: fading in and fading out, media genres - software types, games, educational websites, etc.
Audiences produce meaning from the interaction of the conventional material in the text, and their
understanding of conventions:

media conventions are historical - they come from somewhere and they are responsive to
historical forces
 conventions are not natural but are cultural - they have cultural specificities - they are now
somewhat universal, for example, advertising.
© Australian Children's Television Foundation 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce
this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with
the material.